Severe selling in services and industrial equities largely extended the bearish run on Qatar’s bourse, which settled 2.55% lower in the week ended Thursday, that also saw oil prices climb over $80 a barrel.

Foreign institutions were mainly instrumental in dragging the 20-stock benchmark down 182 points to 6,953.34 points. Qatar’s economy will grow 9% this fiscal and 16% in 2010, HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said this week.

Large and small cap equities came under severe selling pressure in the week that also saw Finance Minister HE Yousef Hussein Kamal announcing that corporate taxes on foreign companies in Qatar are to be brought down to 10%, starting next fiscal, as part of measures to attract foreign investments.

A sharp fall on the first and third days largely resulted in the benchmark to settle below the 7,000 mark although it surpassed that level on Wednesday in the review week, which saw Qatar Statistical Authority disclosing that the country’s (nominal) economy had fallen 29.7% year-on-year in the second quarter of this year mainly on hydrocarbons, especially gas, and manufacturing sectors.

Prominent shakers included Commercialbank (Cb), Qatar Islamic Bank, Industries Qatar (IQ), United Development Company, Nakilat, Qatar Shipping, Qatar Electricity and Water, Barwa and Qatar Real Estate Investment in the week that featured a Global Investment House report that the profitability of the GCC petrochemicals sector may see a 5%-5.5% dip in the fourth quarter this year.

However, stocks of Al Meera, which is set to merge Mawashi with it, were up 60% from its listed price in the review week that saw Zad Holdings’ intention to rope in “strategic” partners for it’s yet to be established poultry project, which will also see 30% stake being offered to public through an initial public offering.

Despite the continued weakening, Qatar’s bourse has reported 0.98% gains year-to-date (YTD) with stocks of services and industries rising 8.21% and 6.26%, while those insurance and lenders falling 8.11% and 2.70% respectively.

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